- cross-posted to:
- news@hexbear.net
- cross-posted to:
- news@hexbear.net
Buffett’s leaked personal trades conflict with Berkshire Hathaway’s policies and his own personal statements.
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
It was the kind of endorsement most companies dream of. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, the legendary investor known as the Oracle of Omaha, repeatedly sang the praises of Wells Fargo in an interview with Fortune. The bank, Buffett said, “has come closer” to an effective business model “than any other big bank by some margin.” He detailed the ways in which Wells Fargo was more valuable than it seemed and compared its chair to Walmart founder Sam Walton.
The interview was published on April 20, 2009. Banks were still reeling from the financial crisis, stock markets were turbulent, and Buffett was the kindly white-haired billionaire who had assured Wall Street, the U.S. government and the public that America would be just fine. It was Buffett who had proposed the idea that turned into the $250 billion federal bailout that had propped up America’s banks (including Wells Fargo).
Berkshire was already one of Wells Fargo’s largest shareholders, and Buffett was so influential that, Fortune noted, he had “caused a 20%-plus jump in Wells shares” the previous month “simply by expressing confidence in the bank on TV.” After the Fortune interview appeared, a similar pattern ensued: Buffett’s comments rippled across financial media, eagerly lapped up by the legion of investing fans who followed his every move. By April 24, Wells Fargo shares had jumped 13%.
That day, Buffett privately sold off $20 million worth of Wells Fargo shares in his personal account.
It has long been known that Buffett keeps a personal stock portfolio, separate from his company’s holdings. But what’s inside of it has always been a closely guarded secret. Buffett’s hand-picked biographer, Alice Schroeder, told ProPublica that he gave her access to nearly everyone and everything in his life — except his personal investing records.
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Billionaires are a cancer on society.
Even the “socially progressive” ones.
That’s the thing. Warren Buffett isn’t even socially progressive. He’s just comfortable pointing out the obvious issues he benefits from. But won’t put any resources to solving it. All hat, no cattle. Virtue signaling. All billionaires are bad. Most millionaires too.
I had a professor who was just a bored rich person who decided he won enough wampum to live a thousand lifetimes off Wallstreet and his take and supposedly the take of most of Wallstreet is simply “Its not our fault the rules are the way they are, maybe if I win big enough they will change the rules. Therefore what I am doing is good… I am showing them how bad the system is”
Perverted thought process in my opinion, but people will justify anything.
That’s straight up cognitive dissonance.
Because the hilarious part is. It’s literally because of people like himself that things are the way they are. Just following orders wasn’t a defense for the Nazis. And just following the letter of antisocial, immoral laws is not a moral defense. Not that it would do any good to argue with someone like that for sure. They know they’re a piece of shit. But as you said. They’ve justified it to themselves. And it doesn’t matter if we accept the justification or not.
Ah, the ol pump and dump. He’d fit right in on wall street bets
Wells Fargo fucking sucks and I’ll never do business with them ever again
Le gasp! A billionaire doing something that’s ethically dubious?!? What is the world coming to when we can’t trust billionaires to do the right thing?
Eat the rich!
Why link to this site, and not directly to ProPublica’s?
